Reading Guides, Chapters 4-11
Important: Students are expected to be familiar with all
the contents of each assigned textbook chapter. Following is a guide
to those materials most directly related to the main themes of the
course.
Chapter 4: The Revolutionary Press
See esp. pp. 52-59, 62-67
Also:
What is the best way to understand the Patriot press?
Common Sense and its opposition
Role(s) of the Patriot press during the Revolutionary War
Study as an example of the Patriot press: Isaiah Thomas and the
Massachusetts Spy
Study as an example of the Tory press: James Rivington
(Corrected 9/27)
Chapter 5: The Party Press
See esp. pp. 69-89; 90-93
Also:
What is the best way to understand the Party press?
What distinguished the politics of the Federalists and the
anti-Federalists?
Why was political support, including financial support, crucial
to these newspapers?
Study as examples of the party press: the Gazette of the United
States, the Aurora, the National Gazette, and the National
Intelligencer.
Chapter 6: Freedom of the Press
See esp. pp. 104-114, noting the complexity of opinions on this
issue and how words and deeds sometimes—okay, often—were often
contradictory.
Look for the “big picture” in this debate.
Alien and Sedition Acts, esp. pp. 115-120
(note the anecdote about Luther Baldwin!)
Chapter 7: Origins of the Penny Press
See esp. pp. 123-133, 140-141
Study suggestion:
List possible explanations for the rise of the penny press
List the arguments/evidence presented that weakens those
explanations
List the counterarguments, esp. Nerone’s summary of the mythology
of the penny press and his disagreement with it
Study as an example of the penny press: James Gordon Bennett and
the New York Herald, pp. 129-131
Chapter 8: The Antebellum Press (the years before the Civil War)
See esp. William Lloyd Garrison and The Liberator, pp. 143-146
Harriet Beecher Stowe, p. 148
Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm, Freedom’s Journal pp. 149-152
Frederick Douglass and the North Star, pp. 150-151
(If you are especially interested in the developing role of
reporters and photographers in wartime, you might want to check out
Chapter 9, which is not formally assigned but has an excellent
summary of the Northern and Confederate correspondents and their
challenges.)
Chapter 10: The Frontier Press
See esp. pp. 175-176, 178-182, 186-188 and 191-193.
Consider the argument that newspapers and other communications
devices can create "communities of communication" that contribute to
the building of social networks across time and space. Are there
examples of that in this chapter?
Chapter 11: The Press and Industrial America
See esp. pp. 198-208
Also:
How and why did the press begin to change after the Civil War?
List 5 or 6 changes and note the main reason for each.